Yin and Yang
by Ursa's number one fan
Summary: Aang is kidnapped and taken to a world filled with familiar faces who all seems to be polar opposite of the people he knew. Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: We don't own avatar the last airbender.**

**Yin and Yang: Chapter 1**

ByMdalia and RebLaw

It began like most usual days had begun after they found the avatar. Katara went off to wash her face and fetch water, before starting breakfast, which Aang, the pickiest eater, went off to scavenge for.

Sokka awoke to an empty camp. He yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes, and climbed out of his tent to see if there was any breakfast yet. He almost walked right into Katara, who frowned at him. "Sorry," the warrior mumbled. "Is breakfast ready?"

"How should I know?" Katara snapped. This Sokka wasn't the Sokka she knew, the young water-bender assessed. She smiled, she finally found them. She decided to play nice, all of a sudden. "Hey, brother, have you seen Aang?"

"Nope," Sokka muttered. "I just woke up. Maybe he's gathering food?"

"Okay," Katara said in a tone that seemed far too cheery, she waved and wondered off northward. "Thanks!"

"No, problem," Sokka yawned. He started off to the stream, wondering if he was awake or if he was just dreaming about his sister being so darn weird. He sleep walked to the stream, still tired and too groggy to want to wake up, especially knowing how cranky Katara was. He was wide awake when he saw Katara filling the water jar. He wasn't sure if she was just super fast or if he was going crazy again. He decided to keep his mouth shut in case it were the latter.

- - - - - - - - - -

Aang had found a boysenberry bush- a rare find. He was busy picking the ripest of the boysenberries when Katara approached him.

"Hey Aang," Katara greeted the boy. "I think I found something about airbenders. I'm not sure, but I think it might be a sign that some survived, can you check it out?"

"Sure Katara," Aang chirped. It seemed like today was really his day, first it was a nice cloudless day when he woke up, then he found this boysenberry bush, and now he might have evidence that some of his people survived.

But all was not right, unfortunately. Aang's head hurt all of a sudden. He stumbled around dizzy from the pain, he saw what appeared to be himself looking down at himself, and his vision faded to darkness.

"Nice toss Sokka," the other Aang said, smiling malevolently.

"Wasn't anything," the teenage boy replied. "His head is huge, just like your head- an easy target for a skilled warrior like me."

- - - - - - - - - -

"You must've found him pretty quickly," Sokka commented, as he carried the water-pot back to the campsite for his sister.

"Found who quickly?" Katara asked, partially confused, partially worried that her brother might've come down with yet another hallucinating fever.

"Aang," Sokka started to explain. "You asked me where he was, nevermind."

"Maybe you dreamt that I asked just before you woke up?" Katara suggested.

"That must be it," Sokka agreed, as they returned to the campsite to find Aang setting out some boysenberries for breakfast.

"Hey guys," Aang said smiling. His eye twitched slightly, he was unnerved by acting this happy. But he knew that by acting happy and good now, it would have its rewards later.

"Oh! I love blackberries!" Katara said enthusiastically. Not many berries made it to the south pole on a regular basis.

- - - - - - - - - -

After breakfast, Aang announced. "I would like to go to a town that's just a bit south of here. I've heard that merchants from all over sell all kinds of things at the market. Perhaps I can find out some more about bending stuff."

"Aang," Katara admonished. "You know it's water bending that you're supposed to be learning now."

"I wonder if they'd be selling any good weapons," Sokka pondered out loud between stuffing his face with berries.

"I'd hope so," Aang said smiling almost too much. "I can't wait! Let's go as soon as possible!"

Sokka wondered what was up with Aang today, but he kept it to himself, like he tended to do. Aang kept on his and Katara's cases to hurry and go to that market. It was very much unlike the laid back Aang Sokka knew.

- - - - - - - - - -

It was just like Aang described it, a busy market- there were merchants many earth-kingdom lands, and even a couple from the fire nation. Aang went over and asked one of the Fire Nation merchants a question, while Katara was showing Sokka what she's like for her next birthday.

"Hey Katara," Sokka asked his sister in a hushed voice. "Is it just me or does Aang seem a little... odd?"

Katara frowned. "Not that I've really noticed. You on the other hand..."

Sokka rolled his eyes and decided he wanted to keep an eye on Aang. But, he remember Katara had their money, so he should stay close to her as well, just in case he found any weapons he needed.

- - - - - - - - - -

They came to an Earth bender's shop, where Aang was spending far too much time examining a ring, as far as Sokka was concerned. Katara was sorting through scrolls to see if any of them were on water bending. The old merchant was not very sure of what he had, all he could tell Katara for sure was that he thought they might not all be earth bending scrolls, which was more than enough to spark the girl's interest in them.

Aang looked at the ring, placing it between two of his fingers, shifting it between his fingers, almost like a magician, and then Sokka blinked, the ring was gone and Aang was whistling while looking at a decorative scroll.

Just as the trio was exiting the shop, the merchant cried that he had been robbed. Katara and Sokka went back in to see if they could help in any way. Katara told Aang to get a guard. Aang did so, after making a brief stop by a nearby alleyway.

Sokka and Katara told the guard all they had seen, and who they saw coming and going, who looked suspicious and anything they could think of to help. Sokka left out that he had seen Aang playing with the very ring that disappeared.

Aang's face paled when Katara told him that the guard wanted to speak to him. The paling was only momentary, but Katara did notice it. She wondered if Aang might be feeling ill or if perhaps Sokka might be right to suspect something was up.

"Son," the muscular guard who looked nothing like a father figure said. "A valuable ring was stolen from this shop today. Tell me everything you remember that happened in this shop earlier today."

"W-well," Aang stammered nervously, swallowing before continuing. "The shop was busy but there were people coming in and out. I didn't get a good look at most of them. I do remember someone spending a lot of time at the ring display. He had red clothes, and also looked through the scrolls."

"Can you tell me anything more about this red clothed person?" the guard asked with interest.

"Well," Aang said with more confidence. "He was taller than me, taller than Sokka, but shorter than you. He wasn't fat, but he wasn't very skinny either."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"No sir."

Aang casually strolled out of the store. He went out the back door, so he could go through the alleyway he paused at earlier and retrieve something. When he returned to the storefront Katara grabbed him immediately. "Aang, we should go now."

"Wha?" Aang said innocently as he was dragged alone out of town at a quick pace. "Leave so soon? But why?"

"You fingered a fire bender from the fire nation," Sokka said plainly. "We don't want trouble, we should leave. Tension was already high between the Fire Nation merchants and the Earth Kingdom merchants, it's even worse now."


	2. Chapter 2

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

Chapter 2

by Mdalia and RebLaw

"Yes Uncle," Zuko said formally. His Uncle Iroh had summoned him. As usual the young prince found his only familial ally playing a board game with one of the officers of the ship.

"I have good news and some bad news young nephew," The old bearded man said. His voice was warm and friendly, like the uncle who played Santa Claus at Christmas time.

"Yes?" Zuko asked, attempting to prompt the old man.

"Bad news first, it never gets better the longer you sit on it," Iroh said. "I am in need of a new cushion. My back is stiff and sore to the extent where its causing me to lose in Pai Gow. We will go to San Hei to procure one."

"Alright Uncle," Zuko said, hoping that the good news was at least relevant to something other than that silly game his uncle adored. "What is the good news?"

"The good news it that there is a report of a spotting of the avatar," Iroh said, making a move that judging by the expression of his opponent was dramatic. "He was seen in San Hei reporting a theft of some sort."

---------------------

It wasn't very bright when he woke up. He was in a building or a tent of some sort. A quick test indicated that he was bound and gagged. Aang was very confused. He was just going with Katara to see something she found about the Air Benders, and now he was bound and gagged and in doors. What had happened?

He decided to see how far he could move, to see if perhaps he could escape, rolling if nothing else. Unfortunately, he discovered he was not only tied up but tied to something. Something hard and heavy, and generally unmovable.

"Well, well, looks who's finally awake," a familiar voice said almost with a malevolent glee. "If it isn't the Avatar of peace. Welcome to our humble dwelling."

"Mamamra?" Aang asked his mouth gagged with cotton cloth.

"Close enough," the voice replied. "I am Katara, but not the one you know. I am Katara from the world of the Avatar of War."

"Ma Mamamar Mm Mmmr?" Aang asked, knowing that the sounds he made where particularly discernible.

"The air monks never told you about the avatar of war and the avatar of peace before they died did they," Katara asked with mock sympathy dripping from her voice.

"Mmm Maamaammmm!" Aang said. He wasn't sure why he bothered, but Katara, no 'other Katara' seemed to at least be able to guess what he said.

"I'm sorry," other Katara said with a harsh sarcastic tone, mockingly sweet. "I'm afraid I can't let you go. That would upset the Avatar's plans, the Avatar of War's plans that is. We need to keep you tied up where you can't ruin them."

Aang made some more attempts to talk, none of them coming out particularly coherent.

Other Katara left, after throwing some meat and a bowl of water at Aang. The boy tried to explain, "But I don't eat meat." But other Katara ignored it. She had somewhere to go something to do.

Other Katara grabbed her brother, other Sokka, and went with him to the meeting place. They always met him there, it was where they first met him accidentally not that long ago.

"Fe," Katara said, recognizing the old man. Fe was old, almost passed middle age, but not quite. Despite his age Fe had the body of a young warrior, Sokka hoped he would retain his physique that well.

"Well, little water-bender," Fe greeted other Katara. "Tell me, how goes the plan?"

"It goes as well as can be expected," other Katara said with a prideful smile. "The inhabitants of the world of the Avatar of Peace are fools, the Sokka from that world is even stupider than the Sokka of this world."

"H-hey," Sokka meekly protested.

"And they have accepted our Aang for their own?" Fe asked hopefully.

Katara smirked. "Well, he isn't back yet. The Avatar of peace is here, bound and gagged in a place where no one will find him but us. We have enough salted meat and water to keep him alive for a long time."

"Excellent," Fe assessed. "We shall meet again in two sun cycles."

"Yes sir," Katara said. She liked Fe's leadership, he knew what he was talking about. He was even the one who told them about the other world and how to go between the two.

-----------------------

Iroh spent most of the day trying to find the perfect cushion. Zuko spent most of the day nagging the old man to get down to business.

Finally Iroh found one to his suiting. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief, but that sense of relief was very short lived.

"What do you mean you won't sell it to me!" Iroh demanded.

"Didn't you see the sign outside!" the angry shop keeper said. "No fire-benders welcome! You're lucky I let you even look at my merchandise!"

"Why not?" Iroh spat. "I'm the brother of the Lord of the Fire Nation, I just want to buy this one cushion. What did I ever do to you?"

"Then you should have the class to follow rules," the shop keeper retorted, holding his ground. "Please leave now or I will call the guards."

Iroh decided to change his tune. He slipped the shop keeper as much money as he sees in a week. "Come now, can't we make a business deal?"

The shopkeeper looked Iroh in the eye, pausing to consider the deal, and looked around to make sure no one was watching. "Alright, but don't let anyone know..."

"Gotcha," Iroh said almost cheerfully.

"Why do all of the shops have these 'no fire-benders' signs?" Zuko asked his uncle, after they had left the shop. "I don't like it."

Iroh frowned, "I don't know, it bothers me too. I was almost unable to buy this cushion because of it."

Zuko, realizing that his uncle probably wasn't going to do anything about it, sent a couple of his crew men, wearing more neutral clothing, to ask around about it.

-------------------

"I think we should wait Aang," Katara said firmly. "You don't look too well, your complexion is pale."

"But," Aang protested. "If we leave now we'll get there sooner!"

"No," Katara said in a stern voice. "It's too late in the day as well. Why don't you take a nap?"

"Awww," Aang groaned. "Fine. But you're not fun."

"Sorry," Katara said. She did feel bad about disappointing Aang, but he had been acting odd. She could remember how loopy her brother got when he caught that flu, she hoped Aang wasn't coming down with it.

Aang, realizing that he was not going to win this argument meandered off, away from the campsite. Momo started following him until he shooed it away.

Back at the camp site:

"I think you might be right," Katara said to her brother Sokka. "He is acting rather odd. Normally he's much better natured."

"I told you so," Sokka said plainly. "We should keep an eye on him."

------------------------

The next morning:

"Come on!" Aang said demandingly. "Let's get going!"

Aang had already packed everything he could and was already sitting on Appa when Sokka and his sister awoke.

"Geez," Sokka griped. "I know you're a morning person, but give the rest of us a chance to wake up first."

Katara got up, groggily, and much to the irritation of Aang did her normal morning routine, refusing to skip washing her face or breakfast or anything.

When the siblings were finally ready to go, Aang couldn't get Appa to go. He tried "Yip! Yip!" he tried doing variations of his normal routine, but the giant woolly bison would not budge.

"Here," Sokka said finally, climbing to where Aang was sitting, taking the ropes from him. "Let me do it."

"Ok, uh, thanks," Aang said nervously. He figured judging by Sokka's expression that the Avatar of peace normally didn't have this much trouble getting his bison to go.


	3. Chapter 3

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang.

By Mdalia and RebLaw

"What are those two doing in the North Pole," Zhao wondered out loud. "It's so far from their home."

Zhao was a spy for the Fire Nation, it was his job to keep tabs on suspicious activities in the Water Tribes. His ultimate job was preventing war from occurring. He often felt guilty about his job, he hated spying, especially on youths, but it was his job, they were after all known associates of the Avatar, which in the particular universe this Zhao was in was the Avatar of War. His one hope, what kept him going, was that the children would see the errors in their ways, that they would stop helping the avatar, whose only goal was total world war.

After observing the siblings, Sokka and Katara for a couple days, Zhao noticed something odd, that they were bringing food and water to a seemingly abandoned shed on a regular basis. He began to suspect that they had an animal in there or worse.

After a couple days, when both Sokka and Katara had left, for what he believed was a meeting with a mysterious character who he had heard them name "Fe" he decided to go and take a peek at what they were keeping.

Never in a hundred million billion cycles of the sun would Zhao had guessed what he would find in there. He found what appeared to be the Avatar bound and gaged. While it seemed to explain why the man hadn't seen the kid in a while; it didn't make much sense. Why would Katara and Sokka turn against their friend all of a sudden?

Something else seemed very odd, the avatar was trying to yell at him and trying to get free or to hide. Everything he had observed or even heard suggested that the avatar was always fearless. The expression on the child's face was one of fear, not malice. This didn't seem right, Zhao had met the avatar once before, well not met, but he saw the lad in person, the boy looked angry, and when he realized he was being watched, Zhao's bones were chilled by the look the child avatar gave him.

Zhao hated himself, but he realized that he couldn't stand to see anyone, even the avatar, whose sole goal seemed to be bring about war, tied up and frightened like this. He untied the child, who much to his surprise thanked him, before running away as quickly as his legs would take him.

-----------------

"Son," Ozai began. "Someday you will be the guide for our people."

"Yes father," Zuko, with an unmarred face, bowed. "If that is your and our people's wish."

"When I am gone," Ozai continued, ignoring his son's insecurities. "You must be strong enough to guide our nation in the path of peace that I and my father and his father before me have always followed."

Zuko nodded. His eyes on the ground, not meeting his father's gaze.

"Son," Ozai said bluntly, putting his hand on his son's sholder. "I need you to do something. For the sake of the peaceful future of our people."

"I understand," Zuko said, he knew what his father was going to ask him to do.

"Good," Ozai said. "I don't like that it has to be done either, but, sadly my brother seems to be set against us and against peace. Please go and observe your Uncle Iroh, send me reports as are warranted."

"Yes father," Zuko said then he bowed and left.

----------------------------------

"It looks like this trip really paid off Uncle Iroh," Zuko said, a pleasant smile on his face contrasting harshly with the scar.

"Aye," Iroh said. "We're catching up to them. We should be able to overtake them by nightfall. Hopefully they'll land by then."

By night fall the trio did indeed land. Sokka and Katara were far too busy trying to make sense of Aang's strange behavior. They fell asleep unaware that a ship of the fire nation was docking on the near-by shore.

Aang wasn't tired at all. He spent most of the ride asleep, as where he came from it was night then, and at night in this world, it would've been day. He waited until Sokka started snoring before he left the tent, he didn't want too many questions, and the duo had seemed almost suspicious of him earlier.

The young avatar went for a walk in the moonlight, he went over his findings and modified his plans for furthering the war that seemed to already exist in this realm. After wondering around the woods for what he guessed were a couple hours, he found his way back to the campsite, only to find fire nation troups sneaking around.

Aang smiled to himself mischievously. It was boring hanging out with these goody-goody versions of Katara and Sokka, maybe it'd be more fun to wreak havoc with the Fire Nation. He didn't even resist when they threw the nets over him and took him away.

----------------------------

This fire nation sure was different than the fire nation from his world, the avatar thought as he sat in a cell aboard Zuko's fire nation ship. Zuko sure was different too, he was much more talkative and more sure of himself. Also he had a hideous scar, which Aang, the avatar of war, thought was kindda cool, he looked like a girl without it.

Zuko stayed with his capture, escorting him to the ship, and sitting outside Aang's cell along with the normal guards. He thought he'd be more overjoyed, but he knew something was wrong, for the boy to let himself be captured so easily, he must be planning something. Zuko still wanted to impress upon the child that he did indeed have the upper hand. He quietly but harshly whispered to the avatar, "You won't escape this time."

Aang, knowing that he wasn't the avatar Zuko thought he was just smiled at the young prince.

"Summon Iroh," Zuko said to a nearby crewman. "I want him to witness that the Avatar has been captured by me."

"Iroh?" Aang muttered to himself. He'd never heard of that guy, but then again, there were probably people he knew from his world that weren't in this one. Kind of like how the Zuko of his world did not have the scar this Zuko did.

Zuko looked at the Avatar as if he was examining a ticking bomb about to explode. "Yes, one of the generals of the great Fire Nation."

Iroh came down the stairs before the crewman Zuko sent to fetch him had been able to find him. In a happy, but almost patronizing, voice Iroh asked, "So this is the avatar we've heard so much about eh? Your father will be pleased Zuko."

Aang looked at Iroh blankly for almost a minute and the older man and the prince discussed the best way to present them to the prince's father. Aang smiled meanly, and said to Iroh, "Gee you've really let yourself go, haven't you Fe?"

"Me?" Iroh asked, pointing to himself. It didn't make sense for the avatar to have made up a new name for him, but it was rather obvious that he was the one the avatar was looking at.

Aang went back to just strangely smiling. Zuko really wasn't very sure what to make of him, he seemed different than the avatar he rescued from Zhao.

---------------------------------

Other Katara and Sokka went to meet with Fe, as they had arranged. Other Katara considered leaving Sokka with Aang, as she thought she saw the dark smoke, the kind that comes from a ship of the fire nation, but decided against it. Sokka was difficult when he wanted to be, and he seemed in a bad mood already.

"Fe," other Katara asked after they had arrived at the usual meeting place. "Is there any reason why the black smoke of a fire nation ship should be seen from here?"

"Don't worry about it child," Fe said in a calculated tone. "What's important now is that you go to the gate between the two world's and wait for the Avatar's report. He was instructed to send a detailed report, which will give us the information we need to plan our next move."

"Yes Fe," other Katara said obediently, with a hint of a wicked smile.

-------------------------

The next morning Katara woke up first, and started getting ready for the day. She immediately could sense that something was wrong though. It wasn't like Aang to sleep in like this, normally he was up and about before she was, gathering food for breakfast, or practicing bending at the very least.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Sokka finally got up and admitted that he had no idea were Aang was. Looking around the duo realized that all of Aang's glider-staff was still there. He never went anywhere with out it. They quickly packed up and set out on Appa searching for Aang, or anything that looked suspicious.

The only thing nearby at all was a fire nation ship. Katara and Sokka both had a bad feeling about it, they knew that the fire nation was indeed after Aang.


	4. Chapter 4

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Chapter 4

Aang ran as fast as he could, he hoped it was just a bad dream. It was weird enough that Katara was all mean, and that he was tied up and gagged- that Zhao was the one who set him free really made him sure it was an odd opposite day sort of a dream.

The boy wasn't able to run too far before he realized that not only did he not know what direction to go, he did not have anyplace to go. So he did what any 12 year old with the weight of the world on his shoulders would do in such a situation, he picked a direction that wasn't leading back to where he was and started walking in it.

After what he figured was an eternity, which was actually closer to an hour, Aang saw in the distance a village of the water tribe. His spirits lifted instantly. He started to run towards, almost skipping with joy along the way.

"Hey!" Aang yelled happily as a greeting as his feet carried him into the middle of the village.

The tribes people took one look at the boy with the blue arrow on his forehead and most of them briskly walked away. It really made no sense to him. Not even the children gave him a smile as their parents whisked them away.

"But...," Aang started to try to explain. "I just want to know where I am..."

No one replied to the avatar of peace. Frustrated with this almost surreal situation, Aang sat himself down in the town square and decided not to move until someone, anyone, told him where he was.

After about a half hour his patience paid off in a way. Two of the guards of the town were patrolling, and talking. Aang was able to overhear bits and pieces of their conversation.

"What's that avatar doing here!" the taller guard complained, unaware that Aang could overhear. "Doesn't he have anyone else to terrorize? We're only a small village!"

"Yeah," the shorter guard agreed. "It makes me nervous. I mean, why is he here? I hope he doesn't have any plans for this village. We're a peace-loving people, after all."

"His war-mongering influence shouldn't be able to take here," the taller guard said staunchly. "He's wasting his time."

"I'm not here to make war," Aang said plainly looking the guards in the eye.

"Sure you aren't," the taller guard said sarcastically mocking Aang. "And what next? The fire nation is coming to attack us all!"

"This world really is an opposite world," Aang mused out loud.

"Whatever, just leave, please," the shorter guard said, egged on by his fellow guard.

"Ok," Aang said quietly, getting up and walking out of town.

If Aang had turned around, he would've seen the two guards with their jaws hitting the ground in amazement.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Aang walked out of the water tribe village. He felt bad, no one liked him here. Apparently they all thought the avatar was mean and evil. Maybe that odd Katara was right and he was really in another world. Or maybe these people had met one of his previous incarnations who was evil, he wondered if that were possible. He didn't want to think about something that horrible, so he started running.

Aang wasn't looking where he was going very well, he ran into an old acquaintance. Pretty hard too, knocking both himself and the strong man down.

"Admiral Zhao?" Aang asked, putting aside his feelings to see if he could get any information out of a man he believed to be an enemy.

"Admiral? No, I'm just Zhao," Zhao said as he picked himself up and smiled at the boy. It never hurt to smile.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Katara and Sokka weren't going to take this one lying down. Well, they were for the time being, as they observed the fire nation ship that was steaming away to return to the Fire Nation with Aang a prisoner in its hull.

They followed the ship on Appa the flying buffalo. The two tried to plot and plan how to rescue Aang from his captors, but the prospect of facing many skilled fire benders seemed almost too daunting of a task.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Aang, the avatar of war pouted. This fire nation wasn't the fire nation he knew. He was used to a bunch of peace loving passivists, not a militant monarchy. This wasn't very much fun.

He was locked up against a wall, he didn't have any wiggle room to speak of. He momentarily wondered how he'd be able to get out of this one, as if it would be much of a challenge. In all fairness it probably would be a challenge if he played fair.

"Hey guard," Aang called out to one of the two guards who were posted to watch him that night. "My wrist hurts, can you give me more slack or something?"

"Sheesh," Zuko muttered, he was watching the guards watch Aang. There was no way with the end so close in site that the young prince of the fire nation would not oversee every detail to ensure success. "I thought the avatar was supposed to be all powerful, not a whiny brat."

The guard unlocked Aang's cell, and went to adjust the chain binding the avatar's arm.

Aang face turned lobster red. He frowned and wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, well, your face is ugly!"

"Foolish Child," Zuko cursed underneath his breath. He didn't really want to have a name calling contest with a child, it was beneath him.

The guard started to loosen the chains of Aang's left arm, unfortunately he wasn't expecting the boy to use the slack to start airbending. Aang's attack pushed the guard down, and with another motion of the child's hand he brought the guards keys into his hand.

Zuko ordered the other guard to close and lock the cell, as Aang unlocked the shackles that held him.

"When he tries to leave, I want you to tackle him,"Zuko ordered the guard quietly. "I'd rather not use my fire bending on a child, its could kill him too easily." Which was true, except that previously when he had attempted the avatar was able to easily stave off the attacks. But that was more than a guard needed to know.


	5. Chapter 5

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Chapter 5

The avatar had escaped. Zuko cursed himself and his foolishness. The guard, who hadn't been able to tackle Aang, stayed face down on the ground, knowing as soon as he showed signs of life, the prince would make his displeasure known.

- - - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, the Avatar of war was enjoying his freedom on his way to the North Pole. He was on his way to meet with the Sokka and Katara of his world, unfortunately he had to use the Sokka and Katara of the world of the Avatar of peace to get there. Appa didn't like this Aang, unfortunately he couldn't communicate effectively why.

Katara and Sokka felt ill at ease, much like Appa. Aang had always been spontaneous and sporadic, they almost went into shock when Aang said he wanted to go right to the north pole- normally he wanted to stop in a million and one "fun" places along the way.

The trio made good time, landing at the North pole the very next day. Aang ran off as soon as Appa stopped flying, ignoring the calls of Katara and Sokka, who just wanted to know where he was going.

"You know," Sokka said. "I'd say this clinches it, it's not the same Aang we used to know."

Katara raised her eyebrows, "You have a point. I wonder who he was and why he looked so much like Aang."

"We should track him to find out," Sokka said plainly. "His trail is easy to follow."

Unfortunately, Sokka and Katara were unable to catch up to Aang – the Avatar of war-- before the fire nation, who was also trailing the avatar caught up to them. Katara was able to hold off the guards for a bit with her water bending, but ultimately, when surrounded by trained soldiers neither her bending, nor Sokka's warrior training enough.

Zuko, Iroh and the guards who were not left behind to guard Sokka and Katara or man the ship continued following the avatar's trail. Fortunately the trail was well obvious and was not easily hidden by the snow drifting along the arctic tundra.

- - - - - -

Aang, the avatar of war, made his way back to his home world. The two worlds were different sides of the same coin, after all. But there were only certain places you could cross over, only four in total, one for each nation. Aang found the Katara and Sokka of his world waiting for him impatiently.

The first words out of Aang's mouth were that he thought he was being followed, by the fire nation. Sokka and Katara immediately took him to Fe, who always had a plan for everything.

- - - - - - -

"The Fire Nation of the other world is chasing you?" Fe asked the Avatar of War. "They're aggressive and war-mongers?"

The Avatar of War, Aang, nodded quietly. Fe didn't seem very happy about it.

"That's great!" Fe said suddenly smiling widely. "I am looking forward of the challenge of sending them back where they came from with their tails between their legs!"

Fe started doing stretches warm ups for the upcoming fights. He was physically in excellent shape, not even considering his age. Without his gray hair, gray beard and wrinkles to give it away he could easily be mistaken for a young man at his peak.

"Um," Aang said. "You know there was a general who looked an awful lot like you. Except he was fat and weak."

"What!" Fe asked, practically in shock that the 'him' of the other world was fat and out of shape. "You must've let going between the worlds get to you boy."

Aang smirked, "Going between the two worlds isn't any harder than walking down a road, you of all people know that."

"Don't tell anyone about the man who looked like me from the other world," Fe said almost asking. The avatar of war's eyes were wondering bored. Fe smiled when he realized that the boy didn't have the attention span to ruin him.

"I don't think that other you is a fighter," Aang said uninterestedly, mostly to try to get a reaction out of Fe. "He was flabby, and seemed too easy going. I don't think he'll want to fight you, he'll probably just run away."

Fe thought for a moment, stroking his beard idly. Then an idea hit. "The Prince of the Fire Nation from the other world wanted to kidnap you?" Fe asked Aang. "And the one who looked like me seemed to be loyal to him and helped him?"

Aang, the Avatar of War caught on quick. "You want to use me as bait don't you?"

Fe smiled and praised the Avatar, "Smart boy! That's why I put up with you!"

- - - - - - - -

"We need to move faster," Prince Zuko said angrily. The avatar's trail was beginning to become faint due to the drifting of the snow. Zuko had just caught the boy, only to have him escape. The prince was still angry with himself over it, he couldn't lose the trail, he couldn't fail to recapture the avatar.

"Slow down Prince Zuko," Iroh sad, struggling to keep up with the young man. It seemed to Iroh that every year he just got older and older, slower and slower, he needed to watch himself or he'd become an old man already.

"If we slow down we may lose the trail," Zuko replied to his uncle's objections. This wasn't much easier for him, despite his youth and strength.

The guardsmen weren't liking this. The snow was deep and the wind was picking up, the trail back to the ship was fading just like the avatar's trail, going back probably wasn't an option anymore. They were uneasy about this whole trip, they didn't like going to a land of ice and wind, fire didn't ever do that well in these areas.

- - - - - - - -

By the time Prince Zuko and company made it to the camp where the avatar's track lead, they were worn out, soaking wet, and probably about to contract hypothermia. Fortunately, they did find the avatar, albeit the avatar of war, unfortunately he was tied up and guarded by an impressive figure.

"The avatar!" Prince Zuko said, surprised that his objective was already captured. He was weary of the captor though, the man looked like an experienced soldier, skilled to have survived in such a dangerous profession for so many years.

"You want him?" The man asked, picking Aang, the avatar of war, up as if he were lighter than a sack of flour. The boy was not really being held hostage, but was playing a park in a hoax for the man, Fe.

"Yes," Zuko said boldly. "I am the prince of the Fire Nation, hand him over to me and you will be rewarded."

"I'll do so, but only for a fight," The figure said in a boisterous voice.

"Deal," Zuko said impulsively. Iroh, his uncle, was about to offer consul to the boy, suggesting he negotiate the terms of the fight, but it was too late.

"I chose to fight Iroh," the figure said, pointing to the pudgey old man who always accompanied the prince.

"You want to fight me?" Iroh said very confused. He didn't have any grievances with anyone he knew of, at least not anyone who would fit the description of the man who stood before him."Who are you?"

"I am known as Fe," Fe said, trying to sound dark and menacing, rather convincingly.

Iroh's eyes widened when he heard that name. "Y-you've got to be mocking me."

"Uncle?" Zuko asked, wanting to know if his uncle was going to fulfill the stranger's request, hoping he would.

"First off -- to fight me here and now, why, even a child with a sharp stick could fight someone who's soaked, cold, tired and hungry as I am," Iroh said bluntly. "Secondly, I am not a fighting man these days, my nephew would be much better suite to the challenge. I submit a request that you fight him in my stead."

"We can duel tomorrow," Fe said. Iroh had a point, he looked like he was able to collapse just from the strain of standing. "Your second request is denied. I have no interest in the adolescent."

Zuko was vaguely offended by that, but ignored it. They set up tents and ate a dinner provided by the man who called himself Fe, when they were sure Fe wasn't around Zuko asked Iroh where he knew Fe from.

"I've never met a Fe," Iroh said truthfully. "It was a name in my childhood I admired greatly though, I used to wish it were my name. That is why hearing someone claim it as his name surprised me."

"I keep thinking I've heard 'Fe' elsewhere," Zuko pondered. "That's right, that's what the Avatar called you, after we captured him."

"That's what was bothering me about it," Iroh admitted. "Well tomorrow I'll fight this 'Fe' we can get the Avatar and maybe figure things out, but for now, our bellies are full and we should sleep."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was going to be an Agni-kai style battle. Iroh and Fe both understood, during the pre-duel warm up that they were going to be doing battle against a master. To make matters worse for Iroh, Fe had much more physical strength going for him.


	6. Chapter 6

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Chapter 6

Iroh and Fe stood back to back, it was a little eerie that they were close in height, Fe was a little taller, but mostly due to Iroh's stoop. Iroh didn't really want to do this, but he knew how much it meant to his nephew, and to the wellbeing of the Fire Nation as a whole.

Fe stepped away, Iroh did the same; one pace, two paces, three paces. The two threw the towels off their shoulders and the Agni-Kai began.

From the start of the duel, both Iroh and Fe showed himself to be a master fire bender. They matched each other blow for blow, flame for flame. All who watched became convinced that Iroh and Fe must be long lost twins, they movements and attacks were very similar.

Zuko, of the world of the Avatar of War was assigned to spy on his uncle. He hated seeing his uncle- and he felt guilty over that, he hated seeing what bad deeds his uncle was doing, how he always tried to ruin diplomatic solutions. But his feelings weren't important in this matter, he was assigned to spy on his uncle, and so he must.

It didn't take him very long to find his uncle- thanks to the large crowd, he was in the middle of the camp fighting with what seemed to be a run down older man who was panting and gasping for breath. Zuko felt sorry for the old man, but he knew he couldn't intervene without facing his uncle's wrath.

Iroh's counterattacks started getting weaker and weaker, the old man was out of breath and perspiring. Fe, on the other hand, was still going fairly strong-- his body wasn't fat and flabby with age, he was physically fit and his great endurance was a benefit of it.

Zuko couldn't bear to watch it. It was bad enough when he saw his uncle cheating and tricking people, he couldn't stand watching his uncle duel someone like that. He thought that his uncle was the epitome of a bully.

Meanwhile, there was another young prince, only this one had a scar on his face, over his left eye; he was the Prince of the Fire Nation from the world of the Avatar of Peace. This prince wasn't very happy either.

At first he was sure his uncle, Iroh, was going to win the match. Iroh's fire bending was very strong, the stranger, Fe, as he called himself, had an intuitive style, but didn't seem as skilled.

As the fight wore on its outcome was becoming apparent. Iroh could not defeat Fe. Zuko cursed silently to himself. He had assumed his uncle would win and that he'd get the avatar back. He ground his teeth together as he tried to formulate a backup plan at short notice. He hated working under pressure.

It wasn't very much longer until the fight was over. Iroh fell to the ground exhausted. Fe was declared the winner. Zuko stormed off, he didn't want his uncle to see him this disappointed in him.

Zuko saw the guardsmen attending to Iroh as he walked away. He told one of them that he'd be back in a bit, that he was just going for a walk. Walking in the cold snow felt good, it cooled his anger, his emotions. The sound of his footfalls gave him a rhythm to pattern his thinking to.

Unfortunately Zuko's relief did not last long. He was lost in a world of thought when a boy snuck up on him and clobbered him hard on the head, rendering him unconscious.

Sokka moved Prince Zuko's body so that it was face up. He stared at the scar, which the Prince Zuko in his world did not have. He silently wondered how the boy got the scar, as he began to hear footfalls in the distance. He turned around to see Fe approaching.

"What did you do that for?" Fe asked Sokka, who was standing over the prince. He had been following Zuko hoping to pawn Aang off on him. Don't get Fe wrong, he liked the Avatar of war, but, he also needed information about the world of the Avatar of peace.

"He looked like a threat," Sokka explained. "sneaking around."

- - - - - - - - - -

Zuko, the un-scarred prince of the fire nation of the world of the avatar of war, didn't want to return to his ship. He didn't want to admit to the guards that he was disobeying his orders to spy on Fe.

He made his way to the pines before the shore. He sat down behind them and decided to plan what to say for his report. He didn't want to talk about Iroh attacking the old man, it would upset his father too much, he felt.

Just then, Zuko heard someone coming, he moved deeper into the woods so he would not be spotted. He could overhear the voices of men speaking.

"I think Zuko should be gone for a while today," one of the voices said.

"Yeah," a husky voice replied. "He watches that old warhorse all day. We should be safe to be gone until at least afternoon."

Prince Zuko recognized the voices, it was his guards. He wondered where they were going, he hadn't given them any tasks to do that would require them to leave the ship, but then again, they might've finished with the tasks he gave them.

"I hear Iko and the others traded to get a new game," the husky voice said. "I bet we'll beat them at this new one just like we beat them at all the others."

Iko, he had heard that name before, he was pretty sure it was a guard of his Uncle Iroh- who, unknown to him, went by the alias Fe while conducting mischievous deeds.

- - - - - - - - -

When the guards made it to Fe's camp, they found it deserted. Luckily for them they one of them found a trail leading to where all of the guards, and some they didn't recognize stood around in a circle.

Much to their surprise they heard Iroh, otherwise known as Fe arguing with, it sounded like himself. When they approached they saw that it was Fe arguing with a fat old man. Both men stood over the body they instantly recognized as the prince, the body had a horrible scar in it and the more loyal of the guards had a bad feeling in their stomach, fearing that the prince was dead.

Approaching with hands on their swords the guards started to break up the human ring around Fe, the old man and the prince, when they were able to see that Zuko was breathing.

"Who did this to our prince?" The head guard demanded in an angry voice. He may not respect the prince very much, but he did pity the boy and try to protect him. One of the other guards picked the prince up and carried him over his shoulder, heading back to their ship.

"Hey!" Iroh, the one who was not known as Fe, said. "That's my nephew. Release him at once."

The guards laughed and ignored the old man, who wasn't in any shape to fight anyone.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko, with the scar, awoke to the face of one of his guards. "Don't worry young prince. We're already well on our way back home for treatment for your injury."

The prince drifted back to sleep, thinking that the blow to his head must have been really severe, since he was hallucinating. Or maybe, just maybe, Iroh took charge and got the guards to capture the avatar. Maybe it was really going to be the homecoming he had long sought.

Zuko slept most of the trip back to the fire nation. He was feeling better by the time they arrived back, still groggy, but at least he wasn't sleeping all day. Today, he was going to talk with his father. Today he would find out if his honor was restored or if his father decided family was more important.

Zuko was surprised when he was allowed to roam the palace freely. He went straight to his father's office, hoping to find him there – since the man wasn't at the port or gate to welcome him home.

Unfortunately the guards stopped the adolescent when he approached the door. "I'm sorry, you're father can't be disturbed, he's questioning the Avatar. Please return later, we'll tell him to expect you."

The princes face flushed briefly with a combination of pride and relief. He had restored his honor. Zuko smiled at the guards, "Don't worry about it. It's not important."


	7. Chapter 7

Avatar: the Last Airbender:

Yin and Yang

There were two rumors running rampant in the Fire Nation Capitol building in the world of the Avatar of War. The first being, how Prince Zuko acquired that horrid scar on his face; the popular explanation was he faced off against both the troublemaker Fe and his troubled uncle Iroh. The second rumor was about why the prince, normally a polite but withdrawn lad had been grinning ear to ear since he arrived. Most of the popular explanations for that involved either love or a breakthrough discovery of some sort.

- - - - - - - - -

_ Aang wasn't looking where he was going very well, he ran into an old acquaintance. Pretty hard too, knocking both himself and the strong man down. _

_"Admiral Zhao?" Aang asked, putting aside his feelings to see if he could get any information out of a man he believed to be an enemy. _

_"Admiral? No, I'm just Zhao," Zhao said as he picked himself up and smiled at the boy. It never hurt to smile. _

_"What's going on?" Aang asked. He didn't really have anyone else he could ask, no one else wanted to talk to him. "I'm all confused-- Sokka and Katara were holding me prisoner. They're supposed to be my friends, they're supposed to save me, not tie me up."_

_Zhao raised an eyebrow. "You never know what you'll get from those two."_

_"But, they're like family to me," Aang said, feeling lost and confused. "I don't understand why they'd do this to me..."_

_"They're like that," Zhao said, genuinely sighing. "I can't blame them too much, loosing their parents at such a young age, it's no wonder they're always so desperate for attention."_

_"What are you talking about?" Aang said shaking his head. "Katara and Sokka aren't like that."_

_"You're just trying to mess with my head aren't you kid?" the man chided smiling. Normally the Avatar, the Avatar of war he knew, wasn't this nice or patient. Not that he had talked to the Avatar much. "I'm not going to let you get to me."_

_"Katara and Sokka are my friends," Aang said almost pleading. "They were the ones who found me in that ice berg and rescued me."_

_"Don't you mean they were the ones who had been handed down the task of watching over you until you awoke from your mysterious sleep?" Zhao said, trying to be helpful. That was what he had heard the story was, he'd never heard anything about an iceberg._

_"Handed down the task?" Aang asked. He quietly explained, "They just happened to find me while fishing. That's what they told me anyway."_

_That wasn't right. He had never been told that Aang didn't know anything, he had been briefed that Aang was informed and kept up to date by those two. _

_"Who are you?" Zhao asked Aang, the Avatar of Peace. _

- - - - - - - - -

"Who are you!" Aang the Avatar of peace asked the middle aged man who approached him. Aang had been brought to the Fire Nation Capitol by Zhao, who was not the Admiral Zhao he knew, this Zhao was kinder, but Aang thought he was weird.

"I'm the Ruler of the Fire Nation," the man, who was just a little plump, said with a warm smile. Aang wasn't quiet sure what to make of all this, he had heard that the Lord of the Fire Nation was a ruthless dictator- that the warrior nation was lead by a Lord who looked like a warrior himself. This man standing before him didn't look like he could even put on armor properly without hurting himself.

"You aren't that scary... " Aang said frowning as thought he were confronting the Fire Nation Lord of his world. The Ruler laughed loudly at how serious and stubborn Aang's face was.

"I-I don't want you to be scared of me child," Ozai said smiling, caught off guard by the avatar's accusation. "Zhao just asked me to ask you some questions."

"Speaking of Zhao," Ozai began, after coming to the realization that the child sitting in front of him seemed hell-bent not talking, just looking at him oddly. "Zhao told me you came from a different world, that you're quite different than the Avatar we knew. Please tell me of the world you come from."

- - - - - - - - - -

The next morning...

"Excuse me," Zuko said to a servant he didn't recognize. It was morning, he had patiently waited until now to seek out his father. He had butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't believe this was finally it. He was finally going to meet with his father with restored honor.

"Oh, you're finally up," the man said. He was tall, but out of shape, Zuko thought he looked familiar, but couldn't quite decide why. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you this last night when you arrived but. Welcome home son."

Zuko just stared in disbelief at Ozai. He hadn't been casted out that long ago. His father shouldn't have changed this much. It was like Ozai was completely different than the father he knew. This man was almost warm, he seemed to be a caring.

"Hey son," Ozai asked, ignoring the odd expression on the adolescent's face. "How'd you get that horrible scar on your face?"

- - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko, the one without the scar, looked around. His ship he left without him, normally that'd upset him, but he didn't want to deal with the crewmen right now anyway. The young prince decided to go back to Iroh's camp and check to see how the old man was doing. He wished he had rescued the old guy, but he knew he was no match for either his uncle or so many guards.

When he arrived his Uncle Iroh, who was also known by the name Fe, was not around. The old man he had seen his uncle fighting; however, was. With several fire nation guards too.

"You let Prince Zuko be kidnapped!" one of the guards said loudly. Zuko, who was not the Zuko they were referring to, listened carefully.

"Look," Iroh said, rubbing his forehead. "I was tired, I was worn out, I couldn't do anything about it. Don't worry, he'll come back, he always does."

"Uh, excuse me," Prince Zuko of the world of the Avatar of War said softly approaching the men hesitantly. "I'm Prince Zuko. Have we met before?"

"Oh, where-" Iroh began, until he realized that while this boy did look and sound like the Zuko he knew, he lacked the scar. Despite the powerful bending magic in the world, there was nothing that would've restored Zuko face.

The guardsmen did a double take, unsure what to make of the situation. Iroh petted his beard absentmindedly while the gears in his head spun trying to determine what had happened or who the adolescent was.

"I was just over there by the trees," Zuko explained, gesturing to his hiding place. "I'm sorry for eavesdropping and for my uncle's actions earlier, he doesn't represent my people."

"Uh," Iroh said thoughtlessly as his mind realized that if Zuko was a parallel Zuko or something, his uncle was Fe. "What the heck!"

"I don't know either sir," Zuko said solemnly.

- - - - - - - - - - -

"The other you disappeared," Katara said flatly. She wasn't going to sugar coat it. "Sokka and I looked everywhere- he's left the area, maybe found a ship, maybe returned home, maybe he's a human Popsicle. I don't know"

"You lost the other me?" Aang, the Avatar of war, asked rhetorically frowning. "Come on shouldn't he be a goodie goodie two-shoes?"

"I think he had help," Sokka said. "There were two sets of foot prints leaving the shack."

"Anyway," Aang the Avatar of war started, bored with talking about something besides himself, smiling, leaning over towards Katara. "How am I doing?"

"Well," Katara smirked back. "You've definitely brought confusion to the two worlds, I'll definitely give you that much."

"Now we just need to exploit it," Sokka added. He kind of felt like Aang always ignored him.

"Well," Aang said. "I'm off to the other world. You two should stay here and fine the other me."


	8. Chapter 8

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Yin and Yang.

Chapter 8

by RebLaw and Mdalia

Sokka and Katara of the World of the Avatar of peace had not had a good day. Aang had been acting mysterious, Sokka even believed Aang was stealing things, and just being weird, and then he vanished. To make matters worse, they ran into some Fire Nation troups that captured them.

Luckily for them they were captured by Prince Zuko and his guards, who were too busy tracking Aang to spare too many men to watch the siblings. Zuko had only ordered one of his guardsmen to take the two adolescents back to the ship. The young prince knew he'd need every man he could spare if he were going to confront the Avatar.

Having one person in charge of keeping two from escaping is a challenge; keeping two people who work together from escaping, is more than one man can handle. Unfortunately for the guard, while he might have wanted to peaceably take them to the ship, load them in the brig, lock the door and play a card game with the other guard left behind, the siblings had other plans.

When the ship was in sight the duo nodded at each other and started running in opposite directions. The guard, weary from all that walking in the cold, sighed as he realized that chasing two teens who grew up in weather like this was likely about the most futile thing he could do.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Ha!" Katara laughed. She and her older brother Sokka, had just met up again after ditching the poor guard Prince Zuko had told to take to the brig of his ship. "That wasn't very hard. We need still need to find Aang."

Sokka frowned slightly. "I doubt we'll find him before Prince Zuko does, if he's found at all. I think we should wait here, see if he comes back."

"Let's go find Appa," Katara suggested. "Maybe we can look for the other water tribes while we're waiting."

Sokka nodded, silently pondering to himself where Aang was and what he was up to.

- - - - - - - - - -

Aang, the Avatar of war, who wasn't really the Aang Sokka was interested in, was on his way to the world of the Avatar of peace to do more spying. He smirked to himself over how much chaos the two worlds interacting with each other was causing. His 'goody-two-shoes' copy was somewhere in this peaceful world, being delayed from bringing peace to his war-torn home world.

The Avatar of war briefly wondered if he was going to run into the Katara and Sokka on his way back, and if he did how to explain himself. He had the nagging feeling that neither of them were going to be too happy about how he just ran off. He'd have to make something good up. Maybe something about helping someone, or something stupid like that.

The boy sped off on the air he summoned to carry him. He decided that, while he was in the north pole anyway, he should probably pick up some water bending. The Katara of the world of the Avatar of peace did teach him a little, but he wasn't sure he could find her again. Also she seemed to have already taught some to the Avatar of peace.

It didn't take Aang, the Avatar of war, very long to find a village. He was counting on the water benders of this world not hating him like the water benders of the other world. Not that he really blamed the water benders of his own world, after all, he was the one who spurred them into a bad battle that cost many lives. But, that had been a fun day all and all.

The Avatar of war was right on, the tribe he found did not all run away from him. Instead they approached him cautiously, as they hadn't ever seen a child sitting on a ball of wind before.

- - - - - - - -

"Hey hey!" a little child shouted running into the tent where Sokka and Katara were enjoying a meal. It had been a while since the two had food similar to the stuff they grew up eating.

"Come see!" the young one said jumping up and down with excitement. "You'll never believe it!"

"Eh?" Sokka asked between mouthfuls. "What are you talking about?"

"Theresthisguy," the child said talking far too fast to be coherent. "Andhesdifferent, andheswearingweirdclothes, andhesflying! Come see!"

"Wha?" Sokka mumbled, vaguely amused that the kid was able to yammer constantly without passing out due to lack of breathing.

"Maybe it's Aang," Katara suggested. She had managed to pick out "weird clothes" and "flying."

"Come see!" the child insisted tugging gently on Katara's hand leading her out of the tent.

"Aang!" Katara yelled, recognizing the orange and yellow outfit from a distance. While it technically was Aang, it was Aang the Avatar of war, not the Aang she and her brother had found in an iceberg before the start of their journey.

"Katara!" Aang shouted in the best fake happy voice he could muster. He got off of his spinning ball of air and walked over to her, realizing that he had some explaining to do, and he'd rather not shout it for the whole village to hear. "Sorry I ran out, I needed to go do something"

"Actually," Aang explained, whispering into Katara's ear on tiptoe. "I noticed that the Fire Nation was trailing us. I figured it'd be best if we split up. Then they'd follow me, and I'm fast enough to lose them easily."

"Oh," Katara said. That was what seemed to have happened. Most of the Fire Nation did follow Aang. "Next time tell us though."

"Hehe," Aang giggled, trying to look sheepish. "Sorry,"

"Oh, that's right," Katara said happily. Things were back to normal she thought. "I found a water-bending teacher! I'm sure she'll be willing to teach you too!"

"Neat," Aang the Avatar of war said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Truth be told, he was itching to learn earth or fire bending – what little of water-bending Katara had taught him was enough for him now. However, apparently the Avatar of peace had wanted to learn water bending.

"Come," Katara said smiling. "I should introduce you to her. I'm sure she's going to be really honored to not only met but teach the Avatar."


	9. Chapter 9

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Yin and Yang

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Author's note: Between the two of us and all our stories- this is our 50th chapter.

Chapter 9

"So let me get this right," Iroh said gruffly, holding a cup of tea in his hand. The tea was cold. "You are from a different world, identical but opposite to mine?"

"That appears to be the case," the unscarred Prince Zuko said. They had spent the last hour trying to hash out what exactly was going on.

Iroh finally got to drink his tea. The crisis of the odd Prince Zuko had been solved. Iroh didn't really like cold tea.

"I want to get my nephew back," Iroh stated, after the moment of silence had past. "He may look strong and act tough, but he still needs guidance."

"Okay," the unscarred Zuko shrugged. He never left like he needed anyone. But then again, he never really had anyone. The Iroh from his world was never particularly dear to him. "I think I may know how to help you."

- - - - - - - - - -

Katara was ecstatic. She had wanted to learn advanced water beginning for a while, and now, finally, she was going to be taught. The morning of their first lesson Katara woke Aang up at the break of dawn. She was somewhat surprised he was up then himself. They ate a good breakfast of fruit and met the teacher at the appointed time.

"Hello again Kona," Katara greeted the older water-bender politely. It was hard for her not to burst out with glee. "I brought along a friend, Aang, an airbender, I hope that's alright."

The older water-bender looked at Aang colorful outfit with mild interests. "I thought the Fire Nation wiped out those monks. I'm glad to see I was misinformed."

"I'm the Avatar," Aang, the Avatar of War stated. He didn't want to muck around waiting for the teacher to figure out that he was capable of a lot.

"Oh my," the older waterbender said in mock astonishment. "He's the Avatar he says?"

"He is," Katara firmly stated. "He's the last Airbender too."

"Oh don't be silly," Kona said smiling. "There are loads of airbenders."

Katara frowned, this didn't make sense, but the last thing she wanted to do was antagonize her teacher. "But, you just said that you thought they were all wiped out?"

"I did?" Kona looked up in an effort to remember. "Oh I forget. It's time for today's lesson anyway. Enough idle chit-chat!"

The lesson for the day was on the basics. Kona praised Katara's patience and bending technique. The water bender didn't have as many good things to say about Aang's bending, except that it seemed to be more powerful. Kona began to wonder if maybe her teaching wasn't right for the young Avatar, he did often look bored and quickly master the material. He acted as though Katara being a classmate was a burden slowing him down, as he seemed to be doing more waiting than anything else.

"Aang," Katara hissed, when they had a break. "I can't learn bending as fast as you can. I wish you wouldn't try to get the teacher to rush so much."

"Rush?" Aang sneered. "Katara if the lessons would go any slower, they'd be going backwards in time."

Katara frowned, "Look, we've learned three new spells and it's only noon. That's the fastest I've ever learned any amount of bending in my entire life!"

"I'm sorry Katara," Aang, the Avatar of war said almost meekly. He didn't like it when Katara was mad at him. Not that he was a goody-two-shoes or anything. He just wanted her to like him, that's all. He had an idea on how to do that too.

"Don't worry about it Aang," Katara said glumly. "Compared to you, well, I can't compare to you."

"Katara…" the Avatar of war said softly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something small and shiny. "Here, I want you to have this."

"A ring?" the waterbender said as she accepted the gift. The ring looked familiar, like the one that was stolen- but telling Aang that would be a bad idea most likely. "Thank you Aang, it's pretty."

"Here, have some food," the water-bender instructor said offering Aang and Katara lunch. Both Katara and Aang took her up on the offer. Katara seemed to be lacking her usual appetite though.

- - - - - -

Zuko looked in the mirror. He saw himself, his scar, everything with him was as it should be. He looked around him: his father was out of shape and different, his nation was at peace, everything was so different. He decided, because he could, to go to his father for guidance. He hoped his father was mostly the same.

"Father," Zuko said, almost barging into one of his father's rooms.

The young prince had picked the right room to barge into- his father was indeed in it. As was the Avatar, the Avatar of peace. They were playing a game of Pai Gow. Zuko had only ever known his uncle to play that game.

"Yes son?" Ozai asked, giving Zuko his full attention as Aang pondered his next move.

"Where is Uncle Iroh?" Zuko asked, with a blind desire to find out what was going on. He knew Iroh was always very dependable.

Ozai raised his eyebrow. Iroh was normally abroad, but Zuko was in luck today, Iroh had just returned. Ozai told his son, "Third door on the left. He just got back a couple hours ago."

With that Zuko left the room to seek out his uncle. Aang still wasn't sure what piece he wanted to move yet, he kept on looking up to see if Ozai had lost patience with him yet.

"That boy," Ozai sighed. "He's been acting strange ever sense he got back. I wonder what is up with that scar of his."

"He's had it ever since I met him," Aang said, narrowing his potential moves down to two.

Ozai didn't think much of that. He didn't know that Aang was the Avatar of peace or that he had met Zuko previously. He decided to play the gracious host some more, figuring that in doing so he was some how hitting a soft spot of the Avatar, as this is as peaceful as anyone has ever reported him being.

- - - - - - - - -

"Uncle," Zuko said barging into his Uncle Iroh's room, seeking the familiar face and calming voice of his uncle, but finding Fe instead.

Fe looked at the boy, at first a bit startled. He quickly regained his confidence. Smiling almost maliciously he teased Zuko, "So this is where you ran off to hide eh?"

"Where's my Uncle Iroh, Fe!" Prince Zuko, with the scar, demanded. He didn't need this, not now.

"Silly boy," Fe said still smiling. "I am your Uncle Iroh. Who is this Fe you talk about? I am Iroh. Don't ever call me 'Fe' again. I'm a busy man, I'll have time to talk to you later."

Just then Zuko heard a voice behind him. "What's this about Fe?" he heard his father ask.

Zuko felt frustrated. No one was there he could trust. He could ask, but he would be unsure if anyone would give him straight answers. He walked away, to give himself room to cool down and collect his thoughts


	10. Chapter 10

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Yin and Yang

Chapter 10

By Mdalia and RebLaw

"Wow," Katara chirped happy but exhausted to Aang, who unknown to her was the Avatar of war and not of her world, as they entered into the village. "Kona sure taught us a lot. I think I'm going to need to practice for a month before I'll have everything we learned today mastered!"

"Hey Katara," Sokka greeted his younger sister, coming out of the guest-tent the villagers were letting them use. He had been waiting for her to get back, he wanted to find out from her if Aang was still behaving oddly. "How did your lesson go?"

The siblings started chatting, Katara was glad to have someone she could recap the lessons to who expressions alternated from impressed to confused, instead of bored like Aang's were.

"Hey," Sokka said, after light from the setting sun reflected off of something shiny and caught his eye. "What's that?"

"This," Katara asked smiling, holding up her hand. On a finger of the hand was the ring Aang had given her. "It's just a ring Aang gave me."

"Don't you recognize it!" Sokka exclaimed- pointing at it, surprised that his sister didn't realize something he thought was obvious.

"Oh my!" Katara gasped, her eyes widening. "This is the ring from that Earth Kingdom market."

"Ka-ta-ra," Sokka chided in his 'scolding' voice. "I would've thought you would've learned your lesson about stealing last time."

"What!" Katara couldn't believe he thought she stole it. "Aang gave it to me. I didn't steal it!"

"So," Sokka said with a smirk. "You're saying that the Avatar, the one who will be peace to the world is the thief. Not only that, he happened to give it to you for no real reason?"

Katara frowned, and clinched her fists. She was honestly angry that her brother believed she'd do something as stupid as stealing—especially after how badly it turned out the first and only time she tried it.

"You know," Sokka mused. "Now that I think about it, he did spend much more time looking at the display of rings than you did."

"Yup," Katara grinned feeling vindicated. "Remember that I only briefly glanced at it and went right to the scrolls?"

"You do have a point," Sokka conceded. "But then that definitely proves my theory that Aang isn't the real Aang."

- - - - - -

"Fe?" Iroh questioned, as if it was the first time hearing that name and was as innocent as a newborn babe. He was trying to deceive his brother- Ozai the Ruler of the Fire Nation. This was the world of the Avatar of war, the Iroh of this world was an ambitious trouble maker. He did go by the name "Fe" purposely doing so in order to make it harder for him to be caught and convicted of his crimes.

Ozai sighed. He knew when his older brother was playing dumb. But, he didn't want to call his brother a liar, especially when he lacked concrete proof.

"Say brother," Ozai asked. "I don't suppose you know who did that to my son? Zuko hasn't told me who did it to him, I think he may not yet be comfortable with having been scarred."

"I saw it," Iroh said, stroking his beard as if he was straining to remember some small detail of something long ago. "It was an older man, grey beard, grey hair, fat belly. He was out of shape; he was only able to clobber my nephew because he sneaked up on him."

"Hmm," Ozai appraised. Maybe this was another piece to the puzzle he was working on. "Maybe it was Fe. After all, that fits most of the descriptions I've been getting of that character."

Iroh smirked to himself. He had just given Ozai a description for Fe that was of the other Iroh. But, after Ozai left, Iroh realized that he fit the description he gave as well. Well, not the fat part or the out of shape part, but the rest fit him as well as it fit the Iroh from the world of the Avatar of peace.

- - - - - - - - -

An Iroh who was not only in shape, but worked against the peace. A father who was loving an accepting and to make it more absurd, playing Pei Gow. Zuko decided that this must be a dream. Everything was opposite, and the only possible explanation was when he was hit over the head, he must have slipped into a comma and this dream was occurring as he was in said coma.

"Oh Bro-o-o-other!" a sugary-sweet sounding voice filled the corridor behind Zuko. He turned around, knowing that it was going to be another person who was similar to someone he knew, yet was completely different.

"Azula," Zuko said, recognizing his sister's voice. He didn't like his sister very much, but then again she wasn't terribly fond of him either. Well, that was the case in the normal world, Zuko rolled his eyes unsure of what to expect in this one.

"Oh my gosh!" Azula cried with shock and sadness. "What happened to my brother's pretty face!"

"It's a long story," Zuko said sighing. He really didn't want to have to deal with THIS version of his sister. Bring back the brat who threw temper-tantrums and always had to have her way. At least she wasn't nosy. "I'm busy."

"Oh ok fine," Azula said pouting slightly. "Hey, have you seen Zhao? I was kind of hoping to run into him."

"No I haven't," Zuko said shortly. "I really must be going now."

"Okay," Azula said. She grinned from ear to ear. "I was hoping to see him. Just the sight of him makes my heart go pitter-patter."

Zuko gave an expression of horror when he heard the words "pitter-patter" from his younger sister. He wondered what this girl could possibly be thinking, at least his real sister, with all her flaws, didn't say such silly sentimental phrases. "You know, you should probably not say things like that sister."

"Why not Zuko?" Azula said confidently. "If it's true why shouldn't it be said?"

"Because Zhao is a jerk," Zuko told his sister in a cold tone. "He's not a good person, much less good for the princess."

"Fine," Azula said, shaking slightly with emotion. "If you'll be so kind as to excuse me brother." And with that Azula walked of, and Zuko was more bewildered than ever.

- - - - - -

Meanwhile, the unscarred Zuko, the one who belonged in the world the scarred Prince Zuko thought was some sort of dream. He and the Iroh the scarred Zuko had known all of his life and was his trusted mentor. Zuko, without the scar, agreed to go with Iroh, who seemed a much more gentle man than the Iroh he knew.

- - - - - - -

Things were turning out very interesting, Fe thought to himself. Zuko of the world of the Avatar of peace seemed to be a very different creature than the Zuko he knew. This Aang, the Avatar of peace was also different than the Aang he had know, in some ways the Avatar of peace was more grown up, in other ways more mature.

He was pleased about Ozai assuming Zuko's strangeness and scar was the result of an injury. While he did realize that perhaps he shouldn't have given a description of the assailant that resembled himself so much.

Now all he had to do was squeeze some information out of Zuko. The boy looked confused and lost. The old war veteran figured it wouldn't take much to get the teen to give him all the information he knew about his world. And hopefully he'd have plenty of time to dump the adolescent back in his home world before the real Zuko returned. Two Prince Zukos would be very confusing.


	11. Chapter 11

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Yin and Yang

Chapter 11

By Mdalia and RebLaw

"Hey! Boy!" Iroh, otherwise known as Fe, called out after the young prince with the scarred face. Fe, being in pretty good shape, sprinted to catch Zuko- he had the feeling that Zuko didn't like him too much.

Zuko turned around. He was half expecting to see his uncle Iroh, but instead saw this man who said he was his uncle. "What is it?"

"Now that's no way to talk to your uncle," Fe said smirking. "I just wanted to talk with you. We never get a chance to talk."

"Fine," Zuko grunted. He didn't trust that man. But being a stranger in a strange land, there wasn't much he did like.

"That-a-boy," Fe said sounding genuinely pleased. "How have you been?"

Zuko raised an eyebrow. Was this old fox playing dumb? Or was it just a stupid rhetorical question. "Whatever."

"No seriously," Fe insisted. His mannerisms mimicked those of Zuko's true uncle- which just bothered the teen more.

"Look," Zuko said. "I know I'm just in a weird dream, and you're some sort of part of my subconscious or something stupid like that- but please, leave me alone."

Fe scoffed at Zuko's theory. "You are very much awake young prince. This world is very much real, as am I."

Zuko glared at the old man with his jaw locked in a frown; this "Iroh" or whatever he called himself sure liked pissing him off.

"Come," a suddenly happy Fe ordered Zuko, in pleasant tone, like a child who wants to show off a new toy to a friend.

Zuko followed behind the old war-hero. Fe led the adolescent into a less-traveled part of the palace, someplace where they could have some privacy.

After offering Zuko tea Fe got down to business. First he explained that this was a world that was like his home world but different. Next he explained, very briefly, how Zuko had gotten here. Then he told Zuko that he wanted to get him, and the Avatar, who was from the same world as Zuko home.

"Why should I believe any of this?" Zuko pointedly asked.

Fe stroked his beard. "You don't have to believe the truth if you don't want to. It's merely in your best interest to. There will be quite an uproar when the other Prince Zuko returns home. You will most likely be assumed to be a spy or impostor."

"There's another me?" Zuko asked, raising an eyebrow. Now that sounded at least mildly interesting, not like the rest of the spam the old man was peddling.

"Yes," Fe smiled, glad to finally have Zuko's attention. "He is very similar to you, except he has no scar on his face. It is a very curious difference. Where did you get it?"

Zuko didn't answer the question. He didn't feel like telling this odd version of his uncle his life's story.

"My nephew is more respectful," Iroh teased raising his eyebrows in mock distain. "Whenever I ask him a question he answers."

"You say you want to _help_ the Avatar, who is originally from the same world as me, and myself get back to our original world?" Zuko asked after a long pause. He wanted to confirm that he'd have a good chance to grab the Avatar.

"Yes," Fe said. "I believe it would be best for everyone."

"Alright," Zuko decided. "I'll go along with it. If- and only if- I gain custody of the Avatar. My father has been seeking him."

"Your father you say?" Fe considered. Prince Zuko of the other world was a Prince, therefore his father was the ruler of the Fire Nation of the other world. "Let me gift-wrap the Avatar for you in that case."

Prince Zuko and Fe both were smiling when they parted to make the necessary preparations.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, in the world of the Avatar of peace:

"Report!" Admiral Zhao commanded the soldier who appeared before him bearing a sealed official scroll.

"Yes sir," the young soldier said automatically. "I was instructed to give this to you sir."

Zhao received it, and inspected the seal. It was from a lower-ranked officer. He wasn't a lower-ranked officer who was up for promotion, or one that was supposed to report directly to him. The admiral pondered why the officer had written him for a moment before breaking the seal.

Zhao smiled as he read the letter. The Avatar was spotted in the North Pole. He had to make sure that if he was successful in capturing the Avatar the soldier who gave him the tip-off would be promoted.

Zuko would not be the one to give the Fire Lord the Avatar, it would be Admiral Zhao, he thought to himself boastfully. Zuko, the fallen prince, a shadow in comparison to the bright star that was Admiral Zhao. While, Zuko was dishonored and disgraced due to poor behavior, Zhao will be brought into the royal family, due to merit.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Brother," Fe entered the candle-lit room near sunset. "There is a diplomat here from the earth kingdom."

"Oh my," Ozai said, mildly surprised. He was in the middle of a game of Pai Gow with the Avatar, a child whom he had taken a liking to recently. "Already? I wasn't expecting them for another week."

"One more thing," Fe added pleasantly as Ozai was leaving the room. "Zuko has been distraught over his scar; I was thinking of taking him to a healer I know-- if that would be okay with you."

"Yes, good," Ozai said, agreeing with his older brother almost mindlessly. "Thank you for the game Aang, maybe we can continue it tomorrow."

"Hey Iroh," Aang said happily sipping tea. "Want to play? I can write down where all of the pieces are now so we can start a new game if you want."

"Say child," Fe said trying to sound warm and sweet. "I have something I want to show you. Will you come with me?"

"Sure," Aang agreed as he hopped up from the cushion he had been sitting on most of the day. He really liked these Fire Nation people, they were nice. Not like the ones he was used to, always trying to capture him and stuff.

"Where is it?" Aang asked. He didn't want to seem impatient, but he had been following Fe for a good 15 minutes and they were about to leave the palace grounds.

Aang didn't get an answer to his question, he got a net instead. Zuko had been waiting by the gate of the palace. Aang gasped when he saw the prince's scared face; feeling the fear of being captured, yet the odd comfort of seeing a familiar face.


	12. Chapter 12

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Yin and Yang

Chapter 12

By Mdalia and RebLaw

Zuko breathed a sigh of relief. He was at the North pole-crossing it in order to return to his own world. Not only was he going to be back where he belonged, he also had the Avatar with him. So he could go back home to his country with his head held high.

Aang wasn't as happy about the arrangement- but was homesick for his friends, especially Katara and Sokka. He hoped he'd be able to flee from Zuko after returning to his world.

Aang nervously smiled at Zuko, who was the closest thing to a friend he had there. Fe scared him.

Fe couldn't wait. He had never gotten to see the Fire Nation on the other side. He knew from what he saw of the scarred Prince Zuko and Iroh, that it likely had a lot of room for improvement.

The trio made their way to where Zuko believed his ship was. As they approached it they saw two figures, a boy and an old man, talking. As the got closer Zuko's heart started to race as he realized that the boy was Prince Zuko of the world of the Avatar of war. Just the thought of another version of himself made him feel weird, to have an opportunity to meet himself, he wasn't quiet sure what to expect.

Aang, on the other hand, was not excited to see two of Prince Zuko in the same place. Much less two of Iroh. He just walked slowly with his head down. There was no hope of escape for the air-bender.

"Nephew!" Iroh happily greeted his nephew. His enthusiasm waned when he saw Fe following his nephew and the Avatar.

"Uncle," Zuko said, relieved to see his uncle again. The prince made sure he held Aang's chain firmly, so the boy couldn't take advantage of the moment.

"Let me introduce you to my new friend," Iroh smiled diplomatically. "Nephew, this is Prince Zuko, Prince Zuko this is my nephew, Prince Zuko."

The unscarred Zuko smiled and followed the joke, "General Iroh, I'd like you to meet my Uncle Iroh. Uncle Iroh, this is my friend, General Iroh."

Aang desperately wanted to run away by that point. Unfortunately the bindings on his arms were too tight to allow him to air bend. Also Zuko and Fe both could easily hold onto his chain and prevent him from running away.

- - - - - - - - -

"Aang," Katara called to the Avatar of War. It was getting late, dinner had finished and the boy had gone to his tent bored with the conversations.

"What is it?" The child asked grumpily. He really didn't want to hear about any more water-tribe stuff. He was starting to suffer from wanderlust again, never wanting to settle down anywhere too long.

"We'd like to talk with you Aang," Sokka said firmly. "Somewhere private."

Aang groaned, that didn't sound good. "Can it wait 'til tomorrow? I have a headache."

"No," Sokka barked. "We're talking about it tonight, either somewhere private, or here where everyone can hear."

"Fine fine," Aang gave in, and pulled himself out of the tent, putting on a "misery" face.

"Let's go by the shore," Katara suggested. "Thanks for coming along Aang."

Aang grumbled about not having much of a choice. But he was compliant. When they arrived at the beach Sokka wasted not time beating around the bush, "Who the heck are you!"

Aang, the Avatar of war was very taken aback by the teenager's anger. "I-I'm Aang."

"Liar!" Sokka yelled. "Aang would never STEAL. He knew stealing is WRONG!"

"Sokka," Katara gasped taken aback. "You need to calm down. Yelling at him won't help."

"But," Aang scrunched up his face as if he were holding back tears. "I- I really AM Aang. I know what I did was wrong, b-but you gotta believe me."

"Why?" Katara asked. "Aang does have his bad points, but you've got worse ones."

"Fine!" Aang shouted. "If you guys think I'm a big liar and that I'm not Aang, I'm leaving."

"Good!" Sokka yelled back. "Leave!"

Katara stood still, shocked as Aang created an air-ball and rode away on it. Her brow furrowed as the tried to make sense of why Aang was acting so weird. Part of her wanted to blame her brother- to just write his observations off as him being too suspicious. But she understood him, and he – to some degree- was right about this. Aang was acting weirdly. Normal Aang would've talked it out, not ran away.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Admiral Zhao was pleased. He was on his way to the North Pole, where the Avatar had last been seen. No mentions of Zuko or Iroh either, so hopefully there would be no interference this time. Just a water-tribe, which would be enough of a pain.

Even since he had captured the Avatar only to have him escape, Zhao had been eager to regain his pride. It had been more than just a little embarrassing to explain what happened to the Fire Lord. Despite hearing back via a letter, Zhao was aware that the Fire Lord was not at all pleased.

He stool watch at the bow of the ship, watching the artic land draw closer and closer. He loved this adrenal rush of the hunt. Especially when hunting the most cunning prey of all, a human.

He pictured in his mind how the avatar would look captured and guarded by as many men as humanly possible. He imagined how the child would look when officially handed over to the Fire Lord, and how the Fire Lord would praise him- taking back all past harsh words. Zhao's crew wondered about their Admiral's sanity as he stood out in the cold chuckling to himself.

- - - - - - - - - -

"I must depart now," the unscarred Prince Zuko said, he had been unable to look other Prince Zuko in the eye the whole conversation. The glimpse of the horrid disfiguring scar made the boy wonder just how different the other boy's life had been. But, knowing himself he figured it was best not to ask. He threw a glance over his shoulder as he walked away- he saw that the scarred Prince Zuko was not smiling and looked as if a smile never graced his face.

"Well," Fe said, glancing from Iroh to Zuko, relieved that he did find his nephew and his nephew was on his way back home. It's not that he cared about the adolescent that much, rather, he knew who'd get the blame if the only prince never returned form his trip. "We should get going. Soon."

"You're coming along?" the scarred Prince Zuko asked. He hadn't heard of this.

"Yeah," Fe said, shrugging as if it were not big deal. "Why not? I figure your world may be fun. Oh, for the sake of avoiding confusion, please call me Fe."

"Sure thing," Iroh said. He didn't like the more muscular, aggressive man using his name anyway.

"How long will it take the men to ready the ship?" Prince Zuko asked. Fe was amused by this; it seemed that that Iroh took orders from the prince.

"It's ready now nephew," Iroh stated pleasantly. "Come, you too Fe, we should depart while the tide is good."


	13. Chapter 13

Avatar: the Last Airbender: Yin and Yang

Chapter 13

By Mdalia and RebLaw

"Admiral!" a nondescript Fire Nation soldier called over to his commander. "I found something!"

Admiral Zhao strode over to the sailor with the telescope and snatched it from him to look. He saw a village, a water-bender tribe village. This must be where the Avatar was hiding. The Admiral barked orders to his crew and before too long they were docking on the shore.

"Hmmm, this is a small tribe," Zhao assessed. "It shouldn't take too much, we out number them significantly."

Admiral Zhao and his men surrounded the tribe fairly easily. It was a small tribe. Unfortunately it was after dark, most of the villagers were asleep. The guards were joking by a fire.

This village must not get many 'visitors', Zhao mused. To have the luxury of relaxing at night; with such a weak defense.

Unfortunately, it turned out Zhao was correct. It seemed almost too quickly that he had all of the villagers rounded up and taken prisoner under his men.

There were only two resisters. A young man and his sister. The young man was somewhat skilled as a warrior. And the girl, she appeared to possess some water bending abilities. Fortunately for Zhao, they knew enough to give up when they were outnumbered.

The admiral had the leaders of the tribe assembled before him. For a couple hours he repeatedly questioned them about the Avatar. They denied knowledge of him, at first, eventually they admitted that the boy had been there but that he left a couple days ago and had not been seen since.

Eventually he got wind of Sokka and Katara being the Avatar's friends. By the time he had gone around in circles with them about where the Avatar was, it was apparent that they were not going to tell him where the Avatar was, his men were finished searching the village. The Avatar was not being hidden anywhere in the village. Zhao and his men angry departed, after telling the villagers that they would be back and if they see the Avatar to hold him for them.

- - - - - - - - -

"So nephew," Iroh asked his nephew, once they had a moment without that questionable Fe character. "Where did you go?"

"Uncle," Zuko said exasperatedly. "Even if I told you, I doubt you'd believe me."

"Oh?" the prince's uncle replied. "You think your uncle who is on a ship with an alternate world version of himself won't believe what his only nephew tells him?"

"Fine," Zuko conceded, he brashly explained. "I went to a place called 'the Fire Nation' it was ruled by a soft man named 'Ozai' who wondered where I got this scar."

"Oh my," Iroh commented. "And that Fe character was known as Iroh there?"

"Yes," Zuko affirmed. "And I found the Avatar playing Pai Gow with 'Ozai' while 'Iroh' or 'Fe' was up to something. I couldn't figure out what exactly thought. He was the one who helped me escape with the Avatar."

"Oh my," Iroh said, devastated; his nephew should've brought that Ozai with him. "I guess there goes my dream of finally having a worthy opponent for Pai Gow!"

Fe, who was behind the corner chuckled at that. While he was disappointed at Zuko's lack of trust in him, everything else seemed to be working rather well. Zuko trusted him enough, maybe not as much as he'd like, but enough for his plan.

- - - - - - - -

After several days of searching Admiral Zhao was beginning to wonder if perhaps the Avatar had left the region. It was possible; the Avatar could flee very quickly. However, Zhao did not want to admit it, that he had failed again.

In a desperate final attempt Zhao sent him men scattered in different directions in groups of three. Zhao, himself, stayed in a central location, with a large bonfire and warm robes.

One set of three, consisting of a large guard named Gobu, a young guard named Eriko, and a short guard named Chiku set out northward. None of them particularly pleased to be on such an unpleasant assignment. They tried to walk at a quick pace; however, the snow was deep and their make-shift snowshoes limited their rate significantly.

"How far have we gone?" Eriko asked Gobu, who was the eldest. He felt as thought he must have walked at least 20 miles, his feet were sore, his throat was dry and he felt exhausted. He was hoping that it would be time to turn around and walk back soon.

"See the sun?" Gobu answered, pointing to the sun which was not far off the horizon. "As soon as it gets to be at its highest point, then we can turn around and walk back."

Chiku sighed. He was used to marching and such, but it was always worse when it was pointed out how much it sucked. The seasoned soldier grimaced and rolled his eyes, only to have something brightly colored catch them. It was a boy, about 11 or 12. Wearing a yellow and red outfit. It must be Avatar, Chiku realized.

"Hey," Chiku barked, pointing in the brightly-clothed child's direction. "It's him! It's the Avatar!"

Eriko sprinted the fastest towards the unaware boy, unfortunately, he was not a very quiet running, nor is running on snow very quiet by its nature. The Avatar heard the commotion and turned around to see the soldiers trying to charge towards him in make-shift snowshoes that were about to fall apart.

This could be fun, Aang the Avatar of War thought to himself mischievously. A wild goose chase is always a fun thing to do with soldiers. Especially when they're as pathetic as this lot appears to be.

When Eriko was about ten feet from the lad, Aang jumped up and whirled around on a summoned ball of air, zig zagging fairly slowly away from his pursuers.

Unfortunately sprinting wore Eriko out fairly quickly and Chiku and Gobu were able to catch up to him. None of them were able to catch the Avatar, who using his airbending skills, was able to keep just out of their reach. They knew he was just taunting them. But they also realized that it would just take one miscalculation on the Avatar's part and Zhao would promote them.

The sun moved from the east to the middle of the sky to slightly west while they were chasing the Avatar of war. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Zhao. Had the Avatar been leading them south? No, Gobu thought, they had been going north the whole time. What was Zhao doing here?

Gobu ran over to Zhao, after telling Eriko and Chiku to follow the Avatar. He saluted Zhao and said, "We've got the Avatar spotted, and we're in pursuit of him, sir."

Zhao raised an eyebrow and frowned. This was not the Zhao was who looking for the Avatar, but the one from the world of the Avatar of war.

"Sir?" Gobu asked after a moment. He was expecting a pat on the back or something. Zhao had only been after the Avatar ever since before he was assigned to his ship.

"Carry on," Zhao sighed after considering it for a moment. It must be the other Zhao, he figured.

Gobu saluted Zhao and then ran to catch up with the other guards. His joints were going to be very painful tomorrow, he realized as it took him a while to catch up. The Avatar switched directions and started southward. Gobu wondered if perhaps he was going for the ocean.

The patience of the three soldiers finally paid off. Aang, the Avatar of war, made a mistake and cut it too close when zigzagging around a forest and slammed into a tree, rendering him unconscious. As Gobu secured the net to hold the Avatar during the trip back, Eriko and Chiku discussed what positions they had their eyes on for their upcoming promotions.


	14. Chapter 14

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Yin and Yang

Chapter 14

By Madlia and RebLaw

Eriko's brow furrowed as he surveyed the landscape. This wasn't very good, he had no idea which way was south. As he reached for his compass to rectify that, when he realized he didn't know what his position was.

"This way," Chiku said pointed southeast, as if he knew Eriko was lost. But he didn't, he and Gobu were just looking forward to getting back to camp and sitting in front of some nice warm fire.

It was dusk by the time the trio were approaching Admiral Zhao's station. Admiral Zhao wasn't very happy; this group was always the last to return from any scouting mission. He had originally wanted to depart before it got dark, but, that time had already passed.

"Where have you three been!" Zhao demanded almost foaming at the mouth. "I'm replacing you three as soon as we get back home! Monkeys could do a better job!"

Eriko and Chiku both stood there in shock-- it's wasn't the verbal abuse, they were used to it. It was more that they actually had a good come back. Unfortunately Gobu beat them to the punch, "Sorry Admiral Zhao, next time we won't waste so much time _catching the Avatar_."

"Oh," Zhao said suddenly optimistic and no longer displeased. "You saw the Avatar? You can confirm he is in the area?"

"Even better," Gobu said pleased with himself. He held the net containing the Avatar in front of Zhao's face. "We caught him."

Aang, the Avatar of war and Admiral Zhao stared at each other. Both were about to break out laughing, but for different reasons. Aang, the Avatar of war, had only known the Zhao of his world, who was a pacifist. Zhao was about to break out laughing because he finally had the Avatar in his reach again.

The next morning Zhao's ship set sail on the two week journey to the Fire Nation, and Zhao had his fingers crossed the whole way there.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Zuko's stomach had butterflies in it the whole way home. He was finally going to restore his honor. His dad would finally have to respect him once again. Despite his stoic, almost grim, outward appearance, Zuko was constantly alternating between elation and anxiety.

Maybe, if he weren't so distracted with his thoughts, he would have noticed how his Uncle Iroh was hovering over him, talking to him in a calming voice. Zuko didn't want to be calmed. He wanted to prepare himself for seeing his father again, for regaining his honor. The young prince knew he should show his father that he was not an impulsive weak boy any longer, but had become a strong man. He had become worthy of his father's respect.

Prince Zuko's ship arrived at the Fire Nation early one morning. The morning fog clung in the air like Zuko's insecurities and fear hung to his soul. But unlike the morning air, Zuko's soul was not visible for all to see. Iroh was proud of how well his nephew appeared to be handling himself.

Zuko had all of his men surround and guard the Avatar to make sure he wasn't able to escape. As he walked from the dock to the palace, he felt as if he were walking on air.

It's so unreal, the prince thought to himself. Finally, after years, he was home, really home. He had the Avatar; his father would have to restore him now. The lord would have to.

- - - - - - - - -

"So Avatar," Zhao sneered as he stood just outside Aang, the Avatar of War's cell taunting him. "It's nice to see you again. How have you been?"

Aang smiled malevolently and answered, "Oh you know me Zhao-y, same old same old!"

Zhao frowned at the insolence the boy was showing him. "Don't worry child, this time I'm going to personally see to it that you don't escape."

- - - - - - - - -

Iroh sighed as he watched his nephew so full of hope and determination. He was fairly certain that while the Fire Lord may be pleased about having the Avatar, he would not express it to Zuko. Hunting the Avatar had been the coming of age challenge Ozai went through, and their father went through it as well. It was supposed to humble the future Fire Lord, not be completed.

The retired general honestly was unsure of what exactly his brother was going to do. About the only thing he was sure of was that Zuko was going to be disappointed. He felt bad for his nephew, but there wasn't much he could do. Iroh just waited behind, so he'd be there somewhat for the boy.

Iroh had guessed right. Zuko returned to him with his teeth clenched seething with anger. The grey-haired general was fairly certain it would be possible to fry an egg on Zuko's head he looked steamed.

"Uncle," Zuko asked, his voice brimming with rage- not directed towards his uncle. "Do you know why?"

The old man sighed. "Your father has his reasons. It's not like it looks Zuko, you must be patient."

"But I have been patient," Zuko retorted. "I spent years searching for the Avatar, finally catching him. I completed the task I was given, why does my father still wish me to be banished?"

"You'll understand later," Iroh said gently. He knew there wasn't anything he could do to make it seem fair to be the boy. In truth it wasn't fair, but that was part of the lesson of the quest.

"Let's get going," Zuko said suddenly after a few moments of silence. He honestly hoped he would never understand his father, he hoped unfairness never would make sense to him. Perhaps his banishment it was for the best- he wouldn't grow as corrupt as his father this way. It still wasn't fair.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Sir," a nondescript soldier saluted Zhao. "We're approaching the capital port."

"Very good," Zhao replied. He gestured towards the Avatar and spoke using in a mocking tone. "It seems our young friend has decided to stick with us to the end this time."

Aang, the Avatar of war, ignored the admiral. He was getting bored of trading insults with the man. Although, he had to admit that it had been fun calling Zhao a "monkey-man"- his face would get so red.

Before very long the ship had docked. Aang honestly couldn't wait to get off, to get away from Zhao and most of all to get some fresh air.

The Fire Nation of this world wasn't very much like the fire nation of the Avatar of War's world. Aang was surprised how militaristic everything was, how trained and professional the soldiers were. It seemed the military was very active, not an unused relic like that of his world.

Before too long things got even more interesting.

"WHAT!" Zhao's voice screeched over the conversations of all of the men guarding Aang. "But that CAN'T BE! I have the Avatar, right here!"

Zhao couldn't believe what the palace guard told him. Apparently earlier that very day, Prince Zuko had shown up and handed over the Avatar to Lord Ozai.

"T-that's just what I was told," the intimidated guard stammered. He saw that Zhao was an admiral; he rarely liked to cross higher-ups.

"Very well," Zhao said. He'd have to talk with one of the generals, or the Fire Lord it seemed. There was no way this kid was an imposter- his men had seen the kid bending air.

After meeting with a general and Lord Ozai himself, Zhao was allowed to put the Avatar in the prison. Surprisingly the recommendation came from a man who the admiral had never seen before. Apparently the mysterious man was a new advisor of Ozai or something, he called himself Fe.

Fe had recommended that both Avatars be kept and treated as genuine until it could be determined which one was really the true Avatar. Ozai agreed with Fe, who looked surprisingly like his brother, Iroh in some ways.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"In you go," the large guard said pushing Aang, the Avatar of war into a large cell. The guard took care to shackle the boy's arms and legs far apart so the boy wouldn't be able to do any airbending.

"My, my" the guard commented after he finished his work, glancing in between Aang and a person next to him. "I don't know how I'd be able to tell you two apart. I'm glad it's not my job to."

Aang looked over, much to his surprise he saw Aang, the Avatar of peace.

The End

Authors' note:

This is the end of this story; however, we do have sequels planned for it. The sequels will likely be shorter, but will involve the situations created by this fanfic.


End file.
